Trilingual Love
by freerangegranola
Summary: John hasn't seen Lafayette or Alex very much in the past week with his constant medical school entrance interviews, and is subsequently cranky and exhausted. When he finally gets home Alex and Laf keep speaking in French around him- and it's pissing John off. John realizes that he's most likely overreacting when he storms off to go to the spare room, but is too bothered to care. Hi


John walked in the door, happy to finally be in his warm apartment with his two wonderful boyfriends, instead of the outer October autumn cold that was whipping in the air outside. He stood in the entrance way, shrugging off his coat and hanging it on the hooks by the door. He toed off his shoes and picked them up before tossing them into their room as he walked past to walk further into the apartment, looking to find his boyfriends. He heard them before he sighted them, and gave a sigh as he heard the foreign language of French filling the air.

"Hello, boys." John greeted his boyfriends with a smile as he saw them on the couch, Alex's head in Lafayette's lap, the cooking show on the their television muted as the commercials cycled through.

"Bonjour mon amour!" Spoke Lafayette, leaning his head back against the arm of the couch, peering at John upside down.

"Hey Cariño." Smiled Alex, lifting himself up from Lafayette, motioning with his arms for John to come sit with them. John smiled and sat in between Alex and Laf, as they made room for him.

John snuggled into Laf's side as Lafayette moved his arm around his shoulders, and Alex settled his head against John's shoulders. As the commercial break ended Alex pressed the unmute button, and the mindless cooking drama resumed. As John's eyelids slowly grew heavier, he leaned further into Lafayette. He was beginning to drift off when he heard a conversation start up around him.

"Que vouliez-vous faire pour son anniversaire, chère?" He felt Laf's chest rumble as he began to speak, obviously assuming that John had fallen asleep. John kept his eyes closed, but felt a shot of annoyance course through him. He always became slightly jealous when Alex and Laf spoke to each other in French. He understood the pet names that Laf used most commonly, but that was the extent of his knowledge into the language of love. He was only fluent in English and Spanish, and thusly always was slightly irked when there was a constant stream of a foreign language in his own home. It always made him feel left out; not that he didn't want his boys to have a special relationship with one another, or that he cared that they were speaking French, really, but it made him feel as if they didn't care if he understood them when he was around.

"Je ne sais pas Laf mais je veux qu'il soit spécial, pour sûr." Alex replied in earnest.

"Nous n'avons que quelques semaines de plus, c'est à la fin du mois." Lafayette responded, holding John tighter as he felt him squirm against him. John felt slighted at the fact they were going on and on, talking over him in the most literal sense. He hadn't been home too much in the past week as his medical school entrance interviews for the local universities had been constant. It upset him to think that as he finally came home they only spoke in a foreign language, as if they rather he not know what they were discussing, as if he wasn't a part of their triad. He was too tired to register that they thought him asleep, and wouldn't be speaking around him in French if he was fully awake. His logical cortexes had been officially fried after his last interview.

"Il a travaillé si dur ces derniers temps avec ses interviews, je ne peux pas imaginer qu'il veut quelque chose de compliqué. Que diriez-vous d'une belle rencontre surprise avec nos amis à la maison, peut-être faire un potluck et nuit de cinéma?" Alex let the concern for his (presumably) sleeping boyfriend color his tone.

"Oui je suis d'accord. Notre garçon travaille dur. Je peux tout le monde texte ce soir après le dîner. Que voulez-vous faire pour le dîner?" Lafayette moved his hand up and down John's arms, rubbing them in a comforting fashion, thinking he was asleep. He knew that John had been exhausted lately, and was glad that he had finally fallen asleep. Laf was also happy that he had actually gotten to see John before too late in the night, when Laf was in bed, as had become the standard for the past week.

John felt put out, left out, and slightly jealous. His fuse had been gradually getting shorter in the past few days, due to the extreme stress of medical school interviews. He knew, deeper down than his current thoughts, that he was overreacting to this. Laf and Alex didn't speak in French when he was around typically, usually they only spoke it when he wasn't home, expressly so they wouldn't exclude him. He knew intellectually that he couldn't be mad that they were speaking in their native languages with each other. Emotionally, however, his nerves were shot, and he was going to overreact, damnit.

"I'm going to go sleep in the spare room, 'kay?" John was up and out of Laf's lap, already walking to the spare room that was mainly used as a storage rather than the intended purpose. Lafayette had startled as John rolled off of him, not even realizing the smaller man had been awake, and definitely not expecting him to rise up and start moving away so suddenly.

"Amour, is something wrong?" Lafayette started to stand and follow him.

"No, I'm fine. Just going to bed." Was the only response he received, as John had already slammed the door behind him before Laf could catch up with him.

John angrily wrapped himself in the covers on their uncomfortable spare bed that had once belonged to Alex before they all lived together. He felt bad immediately for slamming the door on his boyfriends, but needed sleep and was still fairly pissed- although the logic holding together his anger was starting to dissipate. He burrowed into the pillows, not allowing himself to register it still smelt slightly like Alex. He fell into a fitful, anger-driven, nerves-are-shot, sleep.

"What's wrong with him, Lexi?" Lafayette was extremely worried when his Laurens had gotten up, looking so upset, and then practically storming out of the room.

"I'm not sure. He's been exhausted and stressed lately, maybe something just threw him off?" Alex moved over on the couch, taking the spot where John had been and pulling Lafayette back down to the sofa. "It's ok, maybe after he sleeps he'll be better. How about we order from his favorite Italian place for dinner, and wake him up when it gets here. Maybe then he'll be feeling a little better?"

"Ouais ok. Ça sonne bien. J'espère que je n'ai rien fait de mal." Laf leaned into Alex, who had started carding his fingers through his hair, after removing the hair tie from the mass of dark curls.  
"Non, tu n'as rien fait de mon chou, j'en suis sûre. Tout va bien se passer. Regardons cet épisode et je vais commander la nourriture." Alex soothed his french boyfriend, massaging his scalp and turning up the volume on the television program. He hadn't truly been paying much a attention to the show for the past twenty or so minutes, but figured that letting the show finish would give John some extra time to sleep before they had to wake him when the food got there. Alex had to admit that, yes, he was worried about John. Throughout the week when they had seen John, the few times he had been home before Laf and Alex were in bed, he had seemed more and more tense as the time progressed. He and Lafayette had been speaking more to each other lately in French to avoid upsetting John, because when they were speaking in their mother languages it was almost exclusively _about_ John, as of late.

There had been conversations coated in worry for the stress he had been under, to tentative plans for his upcoming birthday, to even just admirations towards how amazing their boyfriend had been doing in the face of his medical school admission stresses.

When the show reached the anticlimactic end of the third contestant winning, (despite having an abysmal appetizer) Laf got up to go take a quick shower before the food arrived. Alex, in turn, ordered a feast worth of John's favorite pastas from the Italian restaurant. When the food arrived around a half hour later, Laf answered the door and thanked the delivery man while paying for their meal, and Alex went to put all of the food on the counter and take out some plates and silverware.

Laf joined him in the kitchen, giving Alex a chaste kiss before they both went to move towards the spare room to awaken John.

John started to rouse when there was suddenly weights dipping the bed down on either side of him, and hushed voices cascading down to his ears from above. He felt someone start to pet his hair, and started to tune into the voices before he began to come to the land of consciousness the rest of the way.

"Devrions-nous le réveiller encore?"

"Ouais, il a besoin de manger. Je ne sais pas combien il a mangé dernièrement depuis qu'il a été tellement stressé."

"Stop talking in french!" Groaned a semi-awake John. He would never say that if he was fully awake, but as he was only half-way conscious, and still exhausted and stressed, he had no inhibitions when it came to letting his (self admittedly, somewhat bratty feelings) show through.

"Why, mon chou?" Asked Lafayette, immediately concerned.

"I can't...understand. Y'all don't want me to know." John's southern accent shined through ever so slightly, giving true tell to how out of it he was.

"Don't want you to know what, John?" Alex began rubbing his arm that was above the covers.

John turned, pushing his face into his pillow, starting to awaken more, but not to the point he was willing to stop telling his boyfriends what he was feeling. "You don't want me to know what you're saying, 'cuz you don't wanna include me." John scrunched his face into the pillow, even though neither of the other two could see him. He started to become fully alert after this proclamation, actually beginning to squirm more, allowing the rest of his appendages to awaken as well.

"Honey, do you really think that?" questioned Alex, concerned with the fact that he apparently felt so excluded. "We always want you to know what's happening in our lives, and what we're saying. Sometimes, though, we are talking about certain things you can't know, like surprises _for_ you. Most of the time we're just talking about how worried we are that you're overworking yourself."

"...Really?"

"Oui, mon amour, we love you with all of our hearts. If you want me to no longer speak my mother tongue to Alex in front of you I won't, if it truly upsets you this much. I would never want to be the reason you are upset or feel excluded." Laf was absently brushing through John's curls with his hand, but stopped when John pushed himself up to look at his boyfriends.

"No, I don't mind that you are talking in your language, babe. Sorry, I feel like an asshole bringing this up- just, never mind. It's no big deal. I really didn't mean for y'all to know, I'm just a blabbermouth when I'm cranky and half awake."

"No," started Alex, looking intently at John. "If you feel any sort of way, especially like this, we should address it. That's something that we've always promised to do. Communication is always important, especially when there's three of us." Alex kissed the top of John's forehead.

"I just- I'm exhausted. I truly don't usually care if you speak in French to each other. I just haven't seen either of you all week, and as soon as I get home I only heard French and it pissed me off, like y'all would have rather me not been there at all, and just could've kept speaking to each other. Like, you didn't want me there. I've just been so stressed lately, and my nerves are fried, and I know I'm overreacting, I sorry, I just-" John stopped abruptly as Lafayette kissed him, sensing that John needed some kind of physical distraction to stop him from the stress-driven tangent.

"I love you, mon chou. It's ok, you never need to apologize for feeling a certain way. Your emotions are valid, always. We have missed you too. How about you go and take a hot shower and then we can watch some shit tv together and eat dinner?" Lafayette spoke to John in soothing tones as he pulled away from the kiss.

"Yeah...yeah, that sounds great. Perfect, honestly. Can we just eat in the room so we can all cuddle properly?" John asked, with slight puppy dog eyes. They usually didn't eat in the room because Laf always complained that he could feel crumbs in the covers for days afterwards and it affected his " _How do you say? Ah, yes- beauty sleep_."

"Sure, baby. Now go take a hot shower and let your body relax. We'll meet you in the room." Alex had already begun to get off of the bed to go start gathering the supplies to eat in the bedroom, but before he pushed off the bed entirely, he leant down to kiss John's cheek and whisper" Te amo, mi vida. Por siempre y para siempre. Siento haberte molestado. Siempre te quiero en mi vida." Alex thought that John hearing _his_ first ( _well, truly he learned English and Spanish simultaneously, but that wasn't really the point at the moment_ , though Alex) language, that only Alex and he spoke in their household would serve to calm any lingering anxieties John had about feeling left out.

The smile John gave to Alex sent the latter's heart into palpitations, and John kissed him on the lips as Alex leaned back. "Te amo."

When Alex had left the room, John turned towards Lafayette, who was still sitting next to him on the bed. "I'm sorry for-"

"Mon chou, I apolo-"

John and Lafayette grinned at each other as they both launched into apologies. Instead of battling out who felt sorrier, and for what, they settled on a hug, John letting Lafayette envelope him for a few moments, already feeling some of the stress melt away from the loving embrace.

"I've missed you." John spoke into Lafayette's chest.

"I missed you too, but I am always right here for you, mon chou."

"I'm going to go shower. I love you, Laf. Like, a lot. Thank you- for everything."

"Always, John." As John got up off of the bed, Lafayette smacked his ass, earning a shocked yelp in response. Lafayette laughed loudly, before also leaving the spare room, shutting the door with a satisfying click.

After Alex had reheated the food and plated it onto paper plates, Lafayette helped him carry the heaps of carbs into their room, finding John already lounging on the bed, wet hair in a bun, browsing channels on their TV that had originally found its home in Lafayette's old apartment.

"Hope you want Italian." Joked Alex, as he heard John's stomach growl from the bedroom doorway.

"If it's from Caesar's, I _always_ want Italian."

The three boys all found a comfortable position to both eat and lounge with each other, letting John pick whatever 'shit TV' he wanted. Settling on "Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta", he threw the remote to the foot of the bed.

"Ugh, that poor woman just can _not_ trust her friends! Whoever told her she needed a mermaid dress was _lying_ to her!"

As Alex snorted at the outburst from beside him, John chided his French boyfriend. "Laf, be nice! It's for her wedding day, she looks beautiful."

"Mon chou, I am French. I know fashion when I see it. I am not currently seeing it."

At that, Alex started laughing so hard he began to choke on the piece of garlic bread he had just bitten into, and John began thumping Alex's back to try to alleviate the choking, all the while playfully glaring at a shrugging Lafayette.

The plates has been tossed out hours ago, the sparse leftovers boxed up for whoever would want them for lunch in the following days, and the boys had all returned to their bed. They all snuggled into each other, listening to the wind outside, not saying much. They let the atmosphere around them do the talking, letting the love and contentment wash over each other.

"Good night, Laf." John smiled into Alex's shoulder as he began the long process of their verbal good nights to each other.

"Good night, mon amour." Smiled Laf, kissing the back of John's head, as he was currently acting as a 'big spoon' to John. "Bonne nuit, mon petit lion."

"Bonne nuit, Laf." Replied Alex, wrapping his arm over John, was was facing into Alex's front, to reach Laf's waist. "Buenas noches, mi amor." Whispered Alex to John, who smiled against him.

"Buenas noches."

Alex began to laugh, disrupting the lethargic atmosphere that had been set.

"What is it?" Questioned Lafayette, slightly irked to have been roused out of his drowsy state of being by the barking laugh.

"We're just one big trilingual gay hot mess of a group!" Laughed Alex, causing his partners to chuckle as well, albeit emitting slightly less enthused laughs as they were much more tired than Alex tended to be at this time of night.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. I love y'all." John smiled, thanking his lucky stars for the most amazing boyfriends in the world.

"Me too. Now, please, can you all shut the fuck up? I- how do you say? Need to go to fucking sleep." Snapped Lafayette, with only an air of a joke.

This retort of course made Alex start guffawing, causing his boyfriends to groan in exasperation. Eventually the atmosphere of dreary contentment returned.

There was a happy sigh from John as he began to drift off to sleep, with returning smiles gracing his partners' faces. They all individually wondered how they had gotten so lucky in their lives, drifting off to sleep one by one.

 **TRANSLATIONS:**

So, I don't speak French, but I do speak a very minúsculo (see what I did there? ;P ) amount of Spanish, so I google translated the large majority of the foreign language excerpts! Hopefully it makes sense to any native (or learning) speakers!

"Bonjour mon amour!" = "Hello, my love!" (Fr-)

"Cariño." = darling / dear (Sp-)

"Que vouliez-vous faire pour son anniversaire, chère?" = "What did you want to do for his birthday, dear?" (Fr-)

"Je ne sais pas Laf mais je veux qu'il soit spécial, pour sûr." = "I don't know Laf, but I want it to be special for sure." (Fr-)

"Nous n'avons que quelques semaines de plus, c'est à la fin du mois." = "We only have a few more weeks, it's at the end of the month." (Fr-)

"Il a travaillé si dur ces derniers temps avec ses interviews, je ne peux pas imaginer qu'il veut quelque chose de compliqué. Que diriez-vous d'une belle rencontre surprise avec nos amis à la maison, peut-être faire un potluck et nuit de cinéma?" = "He's been working so hard lately with his interviews, I don't think he'll want anything complicated. Maybe a surprise evening with our friends at home, maybe a potluck and movie night?" (Fr-)

"Oui je suis d'accord. Notre garçon travaille dur. Je peux tout le monde texte ce soir après le dîner. Que voulez-vous faire pour le dîner?" = "Yes, I agree. Our boy works hard. I can text everyone after dinner tonight. What do you want to do for dinner?" (Fr-)

"Ouais ok. Ça sonne bien. J'espère que je n'ai rien fait de mal." = "Yeah, Ok, that sounds good. I just hope I didn't do anything wrong."

"Non, tu n'as rien fait de mon chou, j'en suis sûre. Tout va bien se passer. Regardons cet épisode et je vais commander la nourriture." = "No, you didn't do anything wrong my cabbage (this is an affectionate term, I promise! lol) Let's finish this episode and then I'll order food." (Fr-)

"Devrions-nous le réveiller encore?" = "Should we wake him up again?" (Fr-)

"Ouais, il a besoin de manger. Je ne sais pas combien il a mangé dernièrement depuis qu'il a été tellement stressé." = "Yeah, he needs to eat. I don't know how much he has eaten lately since he's been so stressed." (Fr-)

"Te amo, mi vida. Por siempre y para siempre. Siento haberte molestado. Siempre te quiero en mi vida." = "I love you, my life / honey. Forever and always. I am sorry I upset you. I always want you in my life." (Sp-)

Please let me know if you have any feedback, I'd love to hear! I love reading the reviews, they make my day. Also, if you have any prompt ideas I'd be interested to know those as well! Thank y'all so much! 3


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